Critical Essay by Gillian Beer

In the following essay, Beer explores Darwin's use of language in describing the place of man within his theory of nature.

In the Introduction to the 1814 edition of The Excursion Wordsworth discussed the philosophical enterprise in which his poem was engaged and set forth his aspirations for man: the hope that the ideal may be Ά simple produce of the common day', by means of 'the discerning intellect of man' 'wedded to this goodly universe'. In the 'wedding' (the unification and harmonising of mind and universe) the outcome is to be a lyrical materialism, a faith that finds its form in the common appearances and daily objects of the world. 'Simple produce' suggests not only what is...